Help!

[Nspyrdlizzard]

I have been a nurse about 6 years now. I went back to school at 40 after a 21 year marriage failed and worked my butt off while raising two teenagers to get here. I've always loved helping people and feeling needed, especially by children, so when my first nursing job turned out to be on a "peds unit that takes 23 hr obs and post ops" I was thrilled. It was a small hospital and when we didn't have the census, we were floated to other depts. I thought this was great b/c I got exposure to lots of other things like OB, ED, and Ortho. It wasn't a lot, but it broke things up and I liked it. After about a year, I moved to a bigger city to be closer to my kids, who were now in college. There was a big hospital in the area and I applied for EVERYTHING there. Unfortunately, I was only qualified for peds. So that's where I have worked for the last 5 years. I frequently get sent to NICU and post partum, when our census requires it. When I'm on my own unit, about 85% of what I do is wean babies born addicted to drugs off while treating them for withdrawal. I still do post ops here and there when we have rooms available. After 5 years and the politics of an all female, rarely changing unit, crappy hours, no holidays, nights, days and in between, and the sometimes unbelievable stress involved with treating 3-5 of these kids while short staffed and no parents, I'm fried. I dread work every day, and when I get off work, I practically run out the door. However, since I've started looking for other nursing options, I've discovered I'm "not qualified" for anything other than what I'm doing now. I have no "med/surg" experience (even though I've done plenty of post ops) I don't have NICU qualifications, (even though I've worked 12hr at a time in the NICU, with 3 of my own babies, sometimes once a week in a month) . My question IS, how do you GET qualified for something else when no one will give you a chance? I don't want to stay with my hospital, I'd much rather do a surgery center or Dr. office, maybe Botox and such, I don't know, but with "no experience" I'm having a hard time getting out. I've thought about Travel nursing, but again, I'm "qualified" as a peds nurse. What do I do! ? I come home in tears more than I smile and have found myself resenting my patients and the parents. I hate myself for that. I want to still be a nurse and help people, I just want some part of me to be left at the end of the day. I can't IMAGINE looking forward to going in to work. I'm miserable and it's really starting to affect my home life.

[City-Girl]

Maybe you could consider an out-pt family practice which would give you exposure to all ages as well as nicer hours and holidays off.

[CX_EDRN]

Qualified or not, are you applying for other jobs? I would definitely apply because experience is experience in non-specialty areas. Do you like NICU, etc when you float there? Why not talk to the managers of the other units and see about either getting cross trained or hired on with them permanently? I know you said you want to leave your hospital but you have connections you can use to make yourself more marketable in the future. Put in a year or two on another unit and then leave if you still want to get away. As far as surgery centers, around here you are golden with ED or PACU experience so they may want that where you are too. Being miserable at work is no way to live so I hope you can find something else soon.